Hopelessly Devoted to You
by Primrose in Wonderland
Summary: After Massie left for England, things began to fall apart. The Pretty Committee is no longer friends. Massie's happy in England, Alicia's the new alpha of an amazing new clique, Dylan's her faithful and thin beta, Kristen's got a promising career in soccer, and Claire...well, Claire's changed, too. Virtually friendless, she vows to get revenge. Narrated by Claire, T for safety.


**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Clique, and I'm not Lisi Harrison. Enjoy!**

**xx**

"I'm soo going to miss you, Mass!"

"Puh-lease come back to visit soon!"

"I heart you!"

"What are we going to do without you?"

"Don't worry, girls- we'll all still be friends. Forever. Promise?"

"Promise."

xx

_August 28th_

Promises are just empty words that somehow receive a little more meaning. When someone promises you something, you expect them to follow through. Like they actually mean what they are saying. But in reality, they are weighted just the same as every other word you say, and it is very easy to lie through a promise.

_It's very easy for all of us to lie- but especially Alicia._

It's difficult some days, waking up and realizing that Cam is no longer a part of my life. But that was his decision, not mine.

It's difficult to know that I only have two friends in this entire world, and one of them lives so far away that we rarely are able to talk.

Yet somehow, I work through it.

xx

Everything had been fine, at first. The promises had been upheld. We Skyped with Massie as a group every Friday night and texted, IMed, and emailed her as often as we could.

And then we started to fall apart.

Massie came to visit during the summer between eighth and ninth grade, and everything was fine. I could feel that we were starting to drift apart, yet I hoped that Massie's visit would bring us closer together. And I thought that it had, at first. But then June came, and we all headed off to various places- Alicia to Spain and then to an elite dance camp, Dylan all over the globe with her mom, and Kristen at soccer camp. We stayed in Westchester. We had no reason to be in Orlando anymore- and despite Todd's protests, Mom and Dad made the wise decision not to go. I attended a local acting day camp. I tried texting them, but they would rarely respond- and if they did, we would have a brief conversation that just seemed forced.

When we started ninth grade at BOCD High, I knew that it was official- the Pretty Committee was on its last legs. Kristen's new Soccer Sisters training schedule was tough, and she was constantly practicing- and when she wasn't, she was sleeping, doing homework, studying, or hanging out with her Soccer Sisters friends. Alicia started acting distant, but it was weird- she acted like she was keeping a secret of some sort. Dylan would sometimes glance over at me with a look of pity, and she started to pull away from me, too. Dylan and Alicia spent lots of time together, giggling and looking at Alicia's phone, but whenever Kristen and I would come over they would put it away and act like nothing had happened.

And then _it _happened.

xx

I'd asked Cam if he'd wanted to go to the movies with me, but he'd said no- he claimed that his grandparents were visiting and that his mom wanted him to spend time with him. I nodded. I accepted his excuse.

I decided to go to the movies anyway. I invited Layne, and we went together. I think the movie was good. I don't even remember what we went to see- I've blocked it all out.

After the movie, Layne and I went across the street to the mall, to my favorite restaurant. It was a favorite of the student body of BOCD High, and was heavily populated at all times. Looking back on it, they were incredibly stupid with the place that they chose.

We walked in, and picked a booth. We started looking over our menus, unsure of what to order. Our booth was in front of the corner booth, and I could hear a couple making out behind me. I rolled my eyes. _Get a room_, I'd thought- like Massie, I've always hated PDA.

I smelled Drakkar Noir, Cam's signature scent. But that was ridiculous. He was at home right now, waiting for his grandparents to leave so he could text me.

His scent mixed with Angel, a favorite of Alicia's.

I couldn't help myself. I was curious. I turned around.

I'm so glad that I did.

A guy with jet black hair had his arms around a girl with wavy, shoulder-length glossy black hair. The girl had her thin, deeply tanned arms around the guy's shoulders, and their faces were practically glued together.

I stood up, but the couple didn't notice. I needed a way to be sure. I was hoping that it wasn't Cam, and that she wasn't Alicia, but somewhere, deep down inside of me, I knew that it was.

"Cam?" I asked, walking over to their booth. If the guy had been someone else, I would've apologized and told him that he looked like someone I knew.

"Hm?" he asked, pulling himself away from the girl. He turned towards me, and I got a look at his face.

Drakkar Noir and Angel suddenly smelled a lot like betrayal.

"Oh, Claire bear!" he said, grinning. He slid out of the booth and stood up.

I looked over to the girl, who was finger-combing her hair, apparently not aware of what was going on. My worst fears were confirmed- the girl was Alicia.

"Are you cheating on me, Cam?" I asked him. "And with Alicia?"

"Claire!" Alicia said. "It's not what it looks like!" Her eyes widened in faux-shock and horror, but her dark brown eyes glimmered a bit too much for someone who was supposedly shocked.

"Claire, I can explain," Cam said, smiling. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to him. I whacked his arms away and step back.

"Then do so," I had said, my voice cold.

"Over the summer, Harris was holding a party at our Lake Como house," he said. "Leesh," I flinched, hearing him refer to her as such, "happened to be in the neighborhood with Dylan, and I was bored and missing you, so I invited them. I hoped that they would give me news of you."

He smiled at me hopefully, but I glared at him. "Keep going," I had said.

"Harris started a game of spin the bottle. Alicia decided to play, but Dylan and I didn't want to. Harris pushed me into it, though. I hoped that the bottle wouldn't go my way. But then it was Alicia's turn to spin, and it pointed towards me. We kissed, and then I realized that it'd made me happy. So we went off, and kept on kissing, and then we just decided to start going out."

"Why would you let Harris pressure you into playing spin the bottle? And also, we were exclusive."

"I know, but...I just really like Alicia too much to let her slip away." He reached for her hand and she grabbed it.

"We can still date," Cam said, "we just won't be exclusive. Alicia and I will still be dating."

"No way," I said, sliding away. I saw Layne glare at Cam, and I remembered that she was still here. "Good luck showing your face at BOCD again, you two."

And with that, Layne and I had left.

xx

My threat turned out to be just as meaningless as the promise we had all made not to pull apart. Cam's friends sided with him, and Dylan, who had known about their relationship ever since the start, also sided with Alicia. Kristen sided with me.

Massie would have sided with me, I know, but we all vowed not to tell her. We each secretly believed that letting her think that everything was fine, that everything was okay, was better than keeping her in the know.

That was my biggest mistake. Because Alicia and Dylan were more popular than Kristen and I were, everyone else sided with them. Alicia was the alpha, and no one wanted to question her.

That was a year ago. Now, we're sophomores, and even Kristen and I are no longer friends. She's too into soccer now. Massie came to visit again over the summer, and we all had to pretend that we were still the best of friends, to keep up appearances. It was hard to be in the same room with Alicia, and it was hard to be close to Dylan, who had supported Alicia and Cam going out behind my back, yet we somehow all managed.

And so Massie went back to England, happy that our group was still intact- or so she thought.

_Didn't you notice anything different about me, Massie? About our group of friends? My parents have, so why couldn't you have, Massie?_

xx

My parents want me to get over losing Cam, Alicia, Dylan, and Kristen. It's hard to do, though. My eyes fill with tears at the sight of them together. The fact that their relationship is also open-ended- Alicia seems to be spotted around town with a different guy every week- makes me sad. Cam ruined our relationship for what, exactly?

My parents are always asking why I don't do this or that. They're worried about my grades- they've slipped from almost straight As to almost straight Bs. I find it easier to lie to them; to pretend to be happy, to tell them that we've all made up. I don't think they quite believe me, but they don't really care anymore.

I don't really care anymore.

xx

The scent of Drakkar Noir and Angel mixed together still haunt my dreams. I miss Cam. I miss him so much. But I can never let him know, I can never see his blue eye and green eye light up because I have decided to get back together with him. That means that he was won, and I have lost.

If there is one thing I learned from Massie, it was to never give up and to always, _always _get what you want. I don't want to admit defeat, so I won't.

xx

_August 29th_

I was at the Westchester Mall to get some back to school shopping done today. I went into Sephora, and was over by the perfumes, when the girl next to me- some random petite brunette- sprayed some Angel onto her wrist.

I felt dizzy. That smell brought up many memories, some bad and some good. There was an overwhelming amount, and my brain felt ready to burst.

I started smelling Drakkar Noir. I ran out of the there, and into the nearest girls' bathroom.

There, I sat on a toilet, locked myself into the stall, and allowed myself ten seconds of tears.

I wiped my face off, and vowed never to let that memory make me cry, ever again.

xx

_September 1st_

"Here we are," the bus driver said. "BOCD High. Freshmen are supposed to go to the auditorium, everyone else to your classes. Good luck, everyone."

_I'll certainly need it._

As I got off the bus, I swore that I could smell Drakkar Noir and Angel, together. My eyes started to fill with tears, but I kept my head high and marched into school.

I'm so proud of myself, I could cry.


End file.
